Trainee pilot and instructor escape unhurt as plane overturns

A PILOT instructor was forced to crash land her two-seater plane in a field in Charlecote last week.

A mid-air engine failure meant Christine Bell, who was teaching someone to fly at the time, declared mayday to Wellesbourne Airfield around 2pm on Monday 2nd June before crashing into a field near the Charlecote Pheasant hotel.

The light plane ended up upside-down because the field’s crops got caught around its axle and tipped it over its nose.

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Christine spoke to the Herald afterwards and confirmed everyone was OK.

“We were fine,” she said. “We just let ourselves gently down from the straps and crawled out. It’s just unfortunate that the crop was very high and it’s wrapped around the axles.”

Builders working on the roof of a house in Charlecote Road saw the 1971 Piper Super Cub in distress and making chugging noises.

They watched it narrowly clear a large oak tree before crashing into the field. Staff at the Charlecote Pheasant heard the crash from inside the hotel.

“It’s a very safe plane to land in a field,” said Christine. “Because I’m a glider pilot I’ve actually landed a lot of gliders in fields over the years and when the engine stops it’s a glider.”

Christine flew gliders for five years before she took up motorised aircraft 23 years ago. She’s never been forced to crash-land a plane.

“It’s my first accident for 28 years,” she said. “It always sounds very dramatic when there’s an aircraft accident but it was a bit of a fizz really; if the crop wasn’t so high it would’ve been fine, it’s just a shame it turned over.”

The 150-horsepower plane, which she’s had for eight years, is unlikely to survive.

“It’s got quite bent, it doesn’t look very pretty,” said the pilot. “We had to take the wings off to get it out of the field.”

It was a hairy moment for her student, who was flying the plane when the engine cut out, but Christine says he’s not been put off and is getting back in the air.

“I’m going flying with the student again on Thursday to make sure he’s not freaked out about it!” she said. “He’s getting back on the pony!”

This article originally appeared in last week’s Stratford Herald. For all the latest news in South Warwickshire, make sure you pick up the paper each Thursday for 60p.